A Walk Into Madness Pt 1
by Raine Morida
Summary: This is a work in progress that WILL contain spoilers from KH, KH:CoM, KH2, and possibly KH: Secret Video...not sure yet...it is a story about Organization XIII from beginning to end. Meaning, yes, it's centered around the bad guys.
1. The New Apprentice

Ansem the Wise looked stood out upon a balcony of the castle that overlooked the glorious town of Radiant Garden. He was simply in awe how beautiful the town was, and how pure of heart the people who took residence were. Ansem the Wise was the one who governed those people, helping create the town from nothing, giving it life. The town contained the most precious flowers with the sweetest aromas, and the waters nearby the town were soft and clear. Ansem had grown old, showing the signs of his old age in his face. He was wrinkled, and his hair was thin, but his wisdom did not entirely take away his youthful appearance. He managed to retain the golden sun-streaked color of his long blonde hair.

He stood there; a gentle breeze surrounded him on another beautiful day. Ansem decided to see the people of the town on such a nice day, although everyday in Radiant Garden was a pure one. He put on a long red scarf and headed for the town.

When he reached the village, he noticed three aspiring youths: Squall, Yuffie, and Aerith. "Good morning," he said to each of them.

"Good morning, sir," they each responded. Yuffie was a young girl always full of energy and spunk. Squall was quiet and reserved young man, but brave and strong. And Aerith was a young woman who reminded Ansem of himself when he was younger. She was always optimistic and looking forward. These three were just three of many aspiring young men and women of the town. There was also an engineer named Cid, although he wasn't young in age, he was young in spirit. And there was also a man named Cloud, who, like Squall, was very reserved. However, Squall would socialize with the people of the town, namely Yuffie and Aerith, whereas Cloud was often on his own doing his own thing.

"How are today?" Aerith asked Ansem.

"I'm doing alright." Aerith had always been precious to Ansem. Of all of the people in the town, she had always been the purest of heart. Ansem the Wise didn't leave the castle often anymore; he had begun to take up research of the heart. The study of the heart had fascinated him, and all because of the townspeople of Radiant Garden, namely Aerith. Ansem noticed the way she acted around Cloud, on the few occasions he showed up. Although it wasn't as much of a loving nature, she just seemed generally concerned about his well-being. You might even say Aerith is the one who inspired Ansem to begin his research.

"Well, I must be on my way, good day," he told the three of them. He wanted to find Tifa, another young woman of the town. She always seemed to be concerned about Cloud too, and always in search.

Day quickly turned to night. He never managed to find Tifa. "She must be out of borders looking for that boy," he chuckled. "That young lady never seems to give up." Ansem was always taken back by how determined Tifa was. "She's the most hard-headed person in this town," he laughed again. But the smile quickly faded, as he had run into an unconscious individual lying on the ground. Ansem ran over to the silver haired youth and took a pulse to make sure he was alive. "Oh dear…" he muttered, the pulse wasn't a very fast one. He picked up the young man and held him over his soldier. Although Ansem was aged, he supported him quite well, and carried him back to the castle.

Ansem took the young man to his room and laid him down on the bed. He had long silver hair that trailed halfway down his back, and bronze skin. Ansem let him rest while he went to fetch him some hot tea. Upon his return, he found the young man awake, but still resting. As he poured him a cup of tea, he asked, "Might I inquire a means of Identification?" The youth groggily grunted in confusion. Ansem laughed again. "I'm only teasing boy. What is your name?" The man opened his eyes and looked up at Ansem.

"Xe…Xehanort. My name is Xehanort."

"Xehanort…hmm, that's a fairly uncommon name…" whispered Ansem. Xehanort's vision was a still little blurred from his unconscious state. Once his eyes focused, he realized whose presence he was in.

"By the stars…you're Ansem the Wise!"

"Yes boy," Ansem chuckled, "have you only just noticed?"

"I-I apologize sir, I didn't realize," Xehanort got down onto the floor to kneel before him. "Forgive me."

"Now, now Xehanort, no need for formalities." Xehanort's eyes met with Ansem's. Just like Ansem, Xehanort had deep golden eyes. Although there was something strange in Xehanort's eyes, something about them made Ansem feel a little uneasy.

"I'm sorry sir, but I've heard of your work before, and I have always wished to study under you."

"Ah, then perhaps our meeting is by fate, and not just some unfortunate coincidence."

"Perhaps…" Xehanort pondered.

"Xehanort, how exactly did you end up laying unconscious in the middle of nowhere?"

"Oh…I, um…I was attacked…"

"Attacked!" Ansem shouted, quite surprised at his statement. "But Radiant Garden is a nation of peace! Surely you must be mistaken."

"I'm not exactly sure…perhaps I wasn't attacked, but I remember my own shadow staring at me with two golden eyes, and then I felt a strange feeling in the pit of my heart, and I collapsed.

Ansem wasn't sure what to think of this. He'd never heard of anyone being attacked in Radiant Garden, although his story fascinated him. "Hmm…your heart seems to have collapsed…fascinating." Xehanort's experience puzzled Ansem, but it also made him grow ever more curious in the study of the heart. "Xehanort, I have a proposal for you." Xehanort looked up as Ansem walked towards the window overlooking the town. "I have been studying the secrets of the heart lately, but anything can be said in words and books, and I've been wanting to conduct experiments on the heart." Xehanort's eyes started to grow wide. "And a foolish old man such as myself wouldn't be able to accomplish such a feat on my own." Xehanort's eyes grew even wider. "So, I ask you Xehanort…will you aid me in my quest to unlock the secrets of the heart? Will you follow alongside me as my apprentice?"

Xehanort was silent for a moment. Ansem turned back to look at him, and Xehanort stared into the eyes of Ansem the Wise. Xehanort smiled a little, "Yes."


	2. War Torn Planet

"So it's settled then, research begins tomorrow," Ansem said. "It's off to bed with you then, I want you ready and well rested tomorrow. I want to know more about this 'shadow' business you spoke of. Are you sure you can't remember anything else?" Xehanort looked down and nodded, slightly ashamed. "I see…well, perhaps we'll be able to figure out this whole mess then. Good night Xehanort."

"Good night," he replied. Ansem closed the door and left Xehanort to his chamber. He walked through the castle, perplexed by Xehanort's story. He walked aimlessly for hours trying to think of what could have happened. He made his way to the balcony overlooking the town. Night had fallen, and the town was only lit up by the stars above. Ansem looked up into the sky wondering what sort of fate had befallen his new apprentice. Everything about his story baffled him, especially the shadow. "Why in the world did the shadow have eyes? A shadow is nothing but a shadow…is it not?" Everyone in Radiant Garden was sleeping peacefully except for Ansem. He didn't even attempt to go to bed. He couldn't with all of these questions in his head.

He stared up into the stars, gazing into the beauty of a hundred thousand fireflies. He always questioned what lay beyond the boundary of the world of Radiant Garden, and hoped to one day find that answer. Ansem didn't have the technology to gaze beyond the sky and see what wonders could await him, and he always hoped that he might someday see them. But he had grown old, and was beginning to think he'd never see those miracles. And so he could only speculate. He wondered what the stars were; he believed they were other worlds. Other worlds he hoped to someday visit. Ansem watched a particularly bright star with interest. "Another world…someday, I'll unlock the secrets to the universe." He watched the star shine brightly, and looked at the town once again. But when he looked back at the star, it was no longer there. Ansem looked around for it, but the star had vanished.

"Well…that's a bit odd. I thought there was a star there…" he thought aloud as he searched. He found some other bright stars, and brushed it off as his old mind playing tricks on him. That moment, however, was when he first began to feel uneasy about the world around him and beyond.

But Ansem didn't know just how right he was about the other worlds…

Far away in that diamond sky, far from Ansem, far from Xehanort, far from Radiant Garden and all of its inhabitants…was another world, just as Ansem had predicted. Of course, this was not the only other world in the sky. There were in fact hundreds, possibly even thousands. But very few knew of any world outside their own. But that was all about to change.

Deep in amidst the Gummi Galaxy as it would be called; there was a war-torn world called Crimson Skies. This world was almost constantly under siege of war. But just recently, it's been in a war unlike any other. This time, the war isn't among the inhabitants, the war is between the people of the world, and a new enemy unlike any they'd ever seen before. Shadow creatures have begun materializing out of the ground and attacking people. Militaries all over the world have joined forces to try and combat these enemies, but their efforts have hardly proven worth it. The creatures seem to be unharmed by normal firepower, and so two of the world's best soldiers were recruited to fight.

In all the world, possibly even the universe, there are two men that are undeniably the best in their classes. The first, Braig, is the best sharpshooter in the land. His accuracy is flawless, and he never misses his target. He can shoot hundreds upon thousands of bullets rapidly in a matter of seconds with every one of them landing their hit. He could easily take on an army of a hundred men and manage to take every one of them down before they could even pull the trigger of their own firearms.

The second, Dilan, is just the opposite of Braig. Dilan is a master of weaponry, and is simply unbeatable in hand-to-hand combat. Any weapon he holds, he masters, and he can manage to hold multiple weapons at a time and use them all with ease. His specialty is lances, and oftentimes will use two of them, one in each hand. His style of fighting is mixed by combining offensive attacks with defensive motives, and alternates the two constantly so that the enemy can't even keep up. The two best fighters in the entire world have been called together to give some hope of defeating the shadows.

"Sir, the soldiers have arrived," shouted a soldier to the commander.

"What soldiers?" questioned the commander. "Braig and Dilan? S'bout damn time. These shadows are just killin' us." Braig and Dilan walked up to the commander, seemingly unprepared. They held their weapons, but no armor to shield themselves. "The hell do you think you're doin'? You boys ain't got no armor? Them shadows are gonna eat right through you!"

"They'd eat right through us anyway," responded Dilan. "You've been fighting these creatures for some time now, you should know that they're not of this world." Dilan spoke in a very sullen yet wise manner, and he was very serious about the whole situation. Braig however…

"Eat through us? As if…they won't even be able to touch us anyway." Braig spoke in a complete opposite manner to Dilan. He was very brash and didn't seem to be taking it very seriously. "As long as I got my guns, not one shadow's gonna lay a finger on me."

Dilan rolled his eyes, even though he was confident that the shadows wouldn't have the chance to penetrate them as Braig said. "What's the status of the troops?"

"They're eatin' us alive!" shouted the commander. "But they're not exactly killin' our soldiers. It's like a black hole appears on their chests and their hearts get sucked straight out of them. And then our soldiers just collapse. But, they're not exactly dead, cuz then they turn into the shadows themselves! We may have had a chance if we had any forewarning of their attack, but since they got the jump on us, they've taken half our army, which probably near doubles theirs!"

Braig readied his guns, and Dilan took out two lances that were attached behind him in a criss-crossed fashion. The commander was about to give them their orders when Dilan intervened "No offense commander, but I do battle my own way." Braig joined in, "Yea, not like I'm some punk kid." The commander just nodded his head, and dismissed them. Dilan and Braig walked out onto the land to find the rest of the army decimated by the creatures. It was a complete onslaught. "I've never seen anything like this…" said Dilan. "They're unimaginable."

"Pipe down," interjected Braig. "What's a matter? You scared?"

"No, of course not," Dilan said with a big grin. "Intrigued would be a better word."

"Alright then, last one in's a rotten egg!" said Braig, looking over to Dilan. But Dilan had already started sprinting towards the shadows. "Hey! No fair!" Braig shouted as he chased after him.

Dilan and Braig reached a couple of lone soldiers in a group surrounded by shadows and immediately began to take on the shadows. Dilan started whipping his lances around, flipping them from hand to hand, over his shoulder, behind his back, through his legs, devastating every last shadow that came into contact with him. Braig took one gun in each hand and started shooting bullets every which way. He wouldn't even be looking in most of the directions he'd be shooting and every last bullet would hit head on. Dilan and Braig were indeed the best fighters in the world. In a matter of minutes, they had destroyed hundreds of shadows.

"Get out of here! Find a safe place! These shadows will only multiply!" Dilan shouted to the three soldiers they had just saved. There was one lying on the ground, he had obviously been killed shortly before Dilan and Braig arrived. The other three soldiers began to run for safety, but then the dead soldier grabbed one of them by the leg. Dilan swung his lance and cut off the dead soldier's hand. But as the hand was cut off, darkness began to consume its body, until his entire person was pitch black. Two beady yellow eyes stared into the soldier who had tried to run away, and it began to reach for the soldier's heart. But then a bullet came shooting through the shadows head and the shadow dissipated. The soldier managed to catch his breath. "You have my thanks," and took off again.

"Heh…Did you see his face? He almost had a heart attack," Braig joked.

"Irony indeed," commented Dilan. Another group of shadows pounced at Dilan, but Dilan managed to know their presence, and swung around quickly, destroying them all.

"Geez, they're like rabbits!" shouted Braig as he shot four more approaching. Braig and Dilan took off into another direction. They ran up the battlefield and noticed a huge black hole forming in the ground. They both walked up to it and noticed that it was slowly getting bigger. "Whaddya think this is?" asked Braig.

Dilan simply shook his head and gazed into it. "It certainly seems to just go on forever." Dilan looked over to find that Braig was no longer standing next to him. He heard Braig's voice shouting over in another area near him. Dilan ran over to see Braig standing over another black hole, and the two of them gazed up and down the battlefield to find that hundreds of them had started to form.

"This is totally wicked. But in a bad way." Braig muttered. Braig and Dilan then saw a new pair of eyes staring back at them in the black hole. "Another shadow?" asked Braig, looking at Dilan. When Braig looked back into the hole, he saw the eyes close, and the shadow crept out. "Too easy," said Braig as he shot it quickly with a bullet. But this shadow didn't stop, it continued creeping towards them. "Hey dude, what's the deal?" Braig started to panic as he franticly shot bullet after bullet at the shadow in vain. The shadow crept close to Dilan and in desperation, Dilan spiked both lances into the ground that the shadow was in. The shadow stopped moving, and Dilan breathed a sigh of relief. That moment of safety was cut short however when the shadow writhed up the lances and jumped off, spiking itself straight into Dilan's chest.

"Dude!" Braig shouted. Dilan fell hard to the ground and began writhing on the floor as if he was having a convulsion. This shadow was different though, it didn't take Dilan's heart, and it didn't turn Dilan's skin black either. Dilan just continued squirming on the ground in pain. And then he stopped, and stood up slowly. Dilan was still Dilan, but his eyes were the golden glow the rest of the shadows had. "What the hell are these things?" shouted Braig. Dilan stared straight at Braig with a sinister glare and responded with a different voice, "We are called Heartless."

Braig stood in shock for a moment as he watched his comrade be taken over by a 'heartless'. Then Dilan picked up both of the lances that had been stuck into the ground and started creeping towards Braig. "Hey man…what are you doing?" But Dilan ignored the comment and continued walking towards Braig. Braig took his guns and pointed them at Dilan, "Dude I'm not playin', back off!" Once again Dilan ignored him, and crept closer. "I mean it! I'll shoot you!" Braig shouted, but Dilan continued his pace. Braig didn't want to shoot him, but he felt he had no choice. So he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the gun firing was the only thing Braig heard for a moment. He expected to hear a wince of pain, or a scream of agony, or even the thud of Dilan's lifeless body falling to the ground. But he only heard silence. Braig opened his eyes to find that Dilan wasn't even there any more. He got wide eyed, and started to panic. Braig had never been so nervous in his life, but whatever he and Dilan were up against, it was unlike anything they'd ever faced before.

Suddenly, Braig heard a scream of anger, more like a war cry from behind him, he turned around quickly and saw Dilan lunging at him with all of his strength being put into the swing of a lance. Braig tried to dodge as quickly as possible, but couldn't get out of the way quickly enough. Dilan's lance sliced straight down through the left side of his face. Braig fell to the floor bleeding. His entire face was now covered in blood, and his left eye had gone blind. He screamed in agony as he felt a huge gash in his jaw. Dilan loomed over him with those same golden eyes, holding his lance up high, about to do the killing strike. Braig quickly grabbed a gun with the hand that wasn't covering up his bloody face and shot the lance out of Dilan's hand. Dilan showed a brief look of surprise as the lance flew out of his hand, and then Braig aimed once again and shot him in the chest.

Dilan's eyes got wide, and then they returned to their normal color as Braig saw the shadow jump out of Dilan's back and into the black hole again. Dilan crouched forward holding his chest in pain, staggering back and forth. Braig could see that it was Dilan once again and breathed a sigh of relief. Dilan walked off balance towards the black hole; Braig noticed this and ran over to him. "Look out!" he shouted as Dilan lost his balance and fell in. Braig dove for Dilan and grabbed his hand, holding him suspended inside the black hole. Braig held his grip tightly and Dilan looked up. "Perhaps it's better this way. Not even you or I could make a difference against those things." Braig looked down to Dilan, knowing he was right, but still interjected "Dude, that's so weak."

"I guess we're no stronger than a couple of 'old dudes' huh?" Dilan said with a laugh.

"Old dude? As if. I'm not just any old dude," Braig said grinning. All of the blood from Braig's face was floating out into streams and spiraling into the black hole.

"I guess this is it then. It looks like…Braig look out!" Dilan shouted as he saw the shadow materialize behind Braig with those same two golden eyes again. The shadow kicked Braig in the side, and Braig lost his grip of Dilan. Braig rolled over onto his feet as Dilan fell into oblivion. "No!…the hell? What are you?" The shadow picked up Braig by the throat and started choking him, holding Braig above the hole. It simply stared at Braig with those golden eyes, and didn't mutter a word. Then it tossed Braig into the black hole along with Dilan.

Xehanort was sent out to gather some things for Ansem. They had been researching for a few weeks now, but they hadn't really gotten anywhere. The only thing they had to go on was Xehanort's story, which was very vague in details. As Xehanort was walking the path to the town of Radiant Garden, he noticed something peculiar off in the field where Ansem found him.

Xehanort ran over to find two men piled in a heap. They were both wounded very badly, and were both unconscious. Xehanort ran into the town yelling for help, and managed to get Yuffie, Leon, and Cid to help him carry the two men back to Ansem's place. Ansem and Xehanort helped put the two men into beds and Ansem got Aerith to care for their wounds.

Ansem asked Xehanort where he found these two men, and was very perplexed when he found out they were found exactly where Xehanort had been found just a few weeks previous. Both these two men and Xehanort were unconscious when they were found, but these men were very badly wounded as well. The one man was bleeding badly, and Aerith had to put a bandage over nearly half of his face!

"This can be by no mere coincidence Xehanort, do you not agree?"

"I do sir, it is very peculiar."

"I daresay, I'm enticed to ascertain the whereabouts of these men's origins. And why they're here…and how they got here."

"I too am curious Ansem."

"I've done all I can for now," said Aerith with a sullen tone. "The rest is up to them."

"I thank you Aerith. You're the best healer in all of Radiant Garden. I'm sure they will be fine." Aerith smiled at Ansem and left the castle.

The next day, the two men awoke to find themselves in a room with Ansem and Xehanort watching them. Xehanort was taking notes, and Ansem was simply eying the two of them.

"Whoa whoa whoa!…where are we?" shouted the one with the bandage on his face.

"Relax my young friend, you are in Radiant Garden. My apprentice here, Xehanort is the one who found you. You were both unconscious and lying on the side of the pathway to the town. Might I ask you gentlemen your names?"

The one with the bandage on his chest spoke first. "I am Dilan, and this is Braig. Tell me, what happened to Crimson Skies?" Ansem and Xehanort exchanged puzzled looks. Dilan realized something. "You don't know what Crimson Skies is, do you?" Ansem and Xehanort shook their heads. "I see. I thought not. We come from a world called Crimson Skies. It was a war-torn planet you see. And we-"

"-Another world?" Ansem interjected. "My theories were true," he muttered to himself. Dilan and Braig both looked puzzled by Ansem's reaction. "I apologize, do continue."

Braig spoke this time. "Well, you see, our world was attacked by these shadow things." Ansem and Xehanort both got wide-eyed at that statement. Xehanort whispered to Ansem "Sir, that's what happened to me…don't you recall?"

"Indeed I do Xehanort. Perhaps these young men may be able to fill in some of the holes in your story." Xehanort nodded. They looked over to Dilan and Braig once again who both looked confused again. "I apologize again. Let me guess, these creatures attacked the two of you as well, and somehow you ended up here. Correct?"

Dilan and Braig both nodded in agreement. "How did you know?" asked Dilan.

"I experienced a similar fate," replied Xehanort, "but I can't recall anything about it. For some reason my memory escapes me."

Ansem walked over to Braig and Dilan, "I have a proposition for the two of you." They both raised their eyebrows. "You see, Xehanort and I have been trying to figure out exactly what happened to him, and we feel that your story may help us out with our research. I assume neither of you know what attacked you."

Braig answered, "No…although one of them did say that they were called 'heartless'. Which is kinda strange considering they take other people's hearts." Ansem became intrigued at this.

"Take other's hearts? This seems to be more serious of a matter than I first inquired. Now, my proposition…" Braig and Dilan were both listening very intently. "In order to aid us in our research, and to find out what exactly these 'heartless' creatures are, I would like for the two of you to join Xehanort as apprentices of mine. We hope to acquire more information about these creatures, and what their purpose is, but we cannot do it alone. I feel it is not mere coincidence that the two of you and Xehanort all experienced the same fate with these creatures, and I want to know why it all happened. Will you join us?"

Braig and Dilan looked at each other, and Braig grinned, "Sure, I'm game." Dilan grinned with Braig and looked to Ansem. "I'm in."


	3. A Shattered Empire

Research continued in Ansem's laboratories deep inside of the castle of Radiant Garden. His two new assistants, Braig and Dilan were proving to be quite useful. Research had begun to die down a little and actual experimentation had started to commence. Ansem hoped to actually create a heartless himself, and Xehanort shared his aspirations. Braig and Dilan worked much of the brawny tasks through the experiments. They would travel the world to find key artifacts and items that were to be used in the experiments.

Xehanort proved himself a reasonable apprentice. During the experiments, he showed himself to be quite capable of creating the darkness that dwelled within the heartless. Although not even he could create a heartless, he came quite close on numerous occasions. Despite all their progress however, Ansem still was not satisfied. With every passing day came more disappointment in that they had yet to reach their goal. Ansem wanted his heartless, and he wanted them as soon as possible.

Braig and Dilan began to grow restless as well. The only one who seemed to be content with the constant failures was Xehanort. This was perhaps because Xehanort had come the closest to success. He could swear he'd seen life in his creations, but the shadows would always dissipate before he could track any real progress. Ansem grew impatient with his whole team. He lusted for some sort of real progression, not just a 'maybe' or a 'perhaps'. Ansem hoped for more.

More was what awaited him in the stars. Just like Braig and Dilan, there were more chosen people destined to cross his path.

Deep in that galaxy which held Radiant Garden and the now extinct world of Crimson Skies was yet another world. A world of order, based upon the principle of law, ruled throughout the ages in dynasties. As the age of kings and queens had long since died out in other worlds, this world still held them as important characters, and the true foundation of all being.

This is the world of Crystal Royale. Entire buildings were made of solid crystal. This land was a world of beauty, where kingdoms were separated by gemstones. There was the Ruby Continent, the Sapphire Republic, the Emerald Federation, and many more. The capitol of this world however, was the Diamond Empire, a glorious city with a magnificent fortress made of solid Diamond. This empire was ruled by King Coral and Queen Peridot. Their two sons were princes of the Diamond Empire. Their names were Even and Elaeus.

Even was the more scholarly brother and also the elder of the two. Elaeus was the more brawny of the two and younger than Even. The two of them were in competition for the crown, for one of them would someday be ruler of the Diamond Empire. The King and Queen had trouble deciding who would take place of King Coral whenever he should pass on. The people of the world were split on who they wished to rule. The two of them were fairly popular on their own accord, and the decision seemed as if to never be made. The King and Queen decided that the brothers would take place in competitions against one another. The winner would of course be named the new Diamond King.

And so it was on. The competition was set, the winner of two out of three contests would become king. The first of the trials was a contest of stamina. The two princes were set to race one another through the Amythestian Forest, where the bark of every tree of made of solid Amythest. Although Even was fast because of his nimble structure, he tired out quickly because the only exercise he ever got was by flipping a page in a textbook. Elaeus however was more than used to strength competitions. Although he wasn't quite as fast as Even at first, his momentum gained and the brute just plowed through any tree that stood in his path. Elaeus claimed the first victory.

The second trial was a contest of balance. A rope was suspended over the Pearling Sea, a sea that was made of a condensed liquid of pearl. A simple scoop of the water in the sea could be fashioned and hardened in a container, allowing for some of the world's most famous sculptures. The contest was set for the two of them to walk across the fifty-yard rope to reach a second platform. Whoever reached the other side quickest, or walked farther, would win. Even was first to go. He took his time and calculated every step, reaching the other side with ease. Elaeus took his turn next with a different approach. He dashed across as fast as he could, making it halfway across twice as fast as Even could. But his strategy presented a flaw. With every careless step, he put down all of his weight onto the rope, and the rope became so taught that it eventually snapped. Elaeus fell without any hope of even completing the course and plummeting into the Pearling Sea. Even claimed the second victory.

Now that the brothers were tied in their contest, the last competition would decide the victor. The final competition was a test of agility. The two were sent into the Labyrinth of Topaz. A maze full of traps and surprises, where the very center of it held a glorious Topaz. The first to reach the Topaz and claim it's glory would be named the next Diamond King. The whistle sounded and they dashed through the maze. They ran at a similar speed down the first hallway until they hit a fork in the path. Elaeus ran left, and Even ran right. Even dove under darts being shot out of the ceiling as Elaeus ducked under flames that shot from the ceiling. They each withstood their fair share of traps when Even came across a spike pit. He knew there was no way across when Elaeus came barreling down a hallway and clumsily ran right into him. Even was jettisoned across the spike pit, landing safely on the other side. Even taunted his brother as Elaeus just huffed and walked another path.

They ran into one another again as they began to near the center of the Labyrinth. Elaeus had found a switch on the floor that opened a door, but when he stepped off of it, it closed. As Even ran down this corridor, Elaeus grabbed him and tossed him onto the switch. He took this chance to then run through the door before Even could move away. Closer and closer they came to the center when they both ended up at opposite ends of a long corridor. At the very center of the corridor was a room with a brilliantly shining Topaz. They glared at one another and simultaneously started dashing towards the Topaz, hurrying to be the first one there. Even's stamina began to give, but put his all in it, hoping to be first. Elaeus snickered as his momentum gained, even though the labyrinth had begun to wear him out as well. They dashed further and further getting closer and closer and they entered the center room at the same time. Even and Elaeus both leapt up into the air, diving towards the Topaz. Time seemed to slow down for them as they could see one another nearing the crystal. They reached out as close as they could…

…And the crystal vanished. Even and Elaeus crashed headfirst into one another and fell barreling onto the floor. The pedestal, which had held the Topaz only moments before, now held nothing, only a small cloud of darkness. Even stood to see where it may have gone and Elaeus searched as well. They examined the cloud of darkness, curious as to what it was and where the Topaz was, and a small pair of yellow glowing eyes stared out at them. Even's and Elaeus' eyes grew wide as the dark cloud began to spread, swallowing up the pedestal and enveloping the entire room. Elaeus and Even dashed out of the room and tried to make it out of the labyrinth as quickly as possible.

They came across the spike pit again, but as they were about to cross it, the spikes became enriched in shadows. The whole pit turned black as night, and Even and Elaeus were left without a path. Elaeus shouted "This way!" and in desperation crashed through the wall. Even followed him as Elaeus barreled through every wall that blocked his path, making the quickest escape out of the labyrinth. They eventually reached the exit, but found no crowd awaiting them. They turned in horror to see the labyrinth become completely covered in the shadows. They could hear screams coming from the kingdom and dashed towards it.

The Diamond Kingdom was in peril. The two brothers ran into the castle to find their mother. They quickly learned that the Ruby Continent had already been lost to these creatures, and that their numbers were multiplying. Even questioned the whereabouts of their father, and their mother replied that he had gone into battle against the creatures. Elaeus ran off to find him and Even stayed with his mother, wanting to help try and get as many people of the kingdom to safety as possible. This was an impossible goal however, seeing as how so many of the people had already fallen to the shadows.

The numbers just continued to multiply as Even watched the people turn into these dark monsters. Meanwhile, Elaeus managed to find his father on the battlefield. He and his army were making no progress against these creatures. Everything they threw at them only went straight through. Elaeus questioned in panic at whether or not they had any hope of defeating them. King Coral began to present an answer, but then he fell silent and collapsed onto the ground. A shadow stood behind him, and King Coral's heart rose from his body and was swallowed by the shadow. Elaeus watched this in horror and swung at the shadow, causing no damage. Frustrated, he watched his father's body turn black as night and become one of the shadows. He knew he could do nothing to stop these creatures, so he ran back to Even and his mother.

Queen Peridot had locked Even and herself up in the castle's highest tower, hoping that the shadows might not find them. Even just gazed out the window at the destruction ensuing in the town, knowing they could do nothing to stop it. "Do you think we can ever defeat these things mother?" he asked. He awaited a response, but heard nothing. He turned to find his mother lying still on the floor, with a shadow consuming her heart. Even screamed in horror as his mother turned to shadow before his very eyes. The door was being blocked by the shadow, so he had no means of escape. The shadow took a step towards Even, and Even took a step back towards the window, having nowhere else to go.

Suddenly, the door busted open and Elaeus came careening through the room diving through the shadow that was once his mother. Once again, this was to no avail. Elaeus stood up by Even's side as the whole castle began to turn into shadow. They looked outside and saw the city streets were now gone and replaced by an enormous black vortex, consuming everything in the city. The destruction of this black hole had grown to be so massive that the sheer force of it caused the entire wall of the tower's room to break off and become consumed in the darkness. The force of the vortex sucked Even out of the tower, causing him to hold on by only one hand. Elaeus dropped to his feet and held onto Even's arm. Not even Elaeus' brute strength could hold onto Even though, and Even fell twenty stories into the darkening abyss.

Elaeus' weight helped him maintain his balance inside the tower, but the castle was crumbling nevertheless. The tower was being held at an angle and Elaeus lost his footing as he watched massive shards of pure Diamond fall into the black maelstrom. He could feel the end was nigh, but held on anyway. He reached for the windowpane of a wall that was mostly intact and grabbed on, but as he held on, he watched himself grow closer to the vortex. He looked back and saw that the shadow with the deep yellow eyes was staring back at him, and it was this creature that he had grabbed, not the windowpane. The shadow grinned and dissipated, leaving Elaeus with nothing to hold onto. Elaeus fell helpless into the vortex, as he watched his town, his world, his home, turn to black.

"Yo! Old man! He's awake!" shouted Braig. Elaeus looked groggily around to find himself alive and in a room filled with people. An old man walked over towards the brute, who was now laying in a bed.

"Thank you Braig. And don't call me 'old man'," Ansem responded. "Well, you seem to have had quite an experience. It seems to have been a similar one as those three have experienced," he said as he pointed to Xehanort, Dilan, and Braig.  
"Who are you?" Elaeus questioned.

"I am Ansem. Famed researcher of this…"

"Hey Doc, why d'you gotta make these intros so formal?" interrupted Braig.

"What Braig means…" started Dilan "is that if these two young men have in fact experienced those same shadow creatures that we all have, we haven't a whole lot of time before those creatures find this world."

"I just meant he rambles a lot," Braig added snidely. Ansem glared at him.

Xehanort interrupted, "You're brother has told us what has happened to your world. We have all shared this experience with our own worlds as well. We hope to find the answers to all the same questions you have before it's too late. We've been conducting experiments on these 'heartless' creatures, and we may be getting close. Will you help us?"

Elaeus looked over to see his brother alive and well. He thought of the proposition, and remembered his mother and father's final moments on their planet. He grew angry at the shadows and what they'd done to his world. His fist started to shake in fury as he felt a hand reach down and become placed on his fist. Elaeus looked up to find Even holding his hand. Elaeus calmed down as Even gave him a reassured look, and Elaeus smiled. They both looked at Ansem and agreed.


	4. Last Hope

Time passed in Ansem's laboratories. Now with five apprentices, all of his work was beginning to get somewhere. But although they were coming ever closer to reaching their goal, at the same time, they continued to raise more questions. "Who are these young men?" Ansem would constantly ponder. "Why did they survive their ordeals? And why would they wind up here of all places? Will there be anymore to cross my path? If so, how many?" These were all questions Ansem asked himself everyday, but never found the answer. The only connection between their stories was the shadows that devoured their worlds. And those shadows, these 'Heartless', could be nothing more than speculation and theories until their experiments could succeed.

Ansem and his apprentices were all beginning to lose hope, and they began to wonder if they would ever find out the reasoning behind all this madness and chaos. Ansem worried most of all, for if all of these young men were telling the truth, and there was no coincidence that they all had the same story, then Radiant Garden was just as viable a target as any other planet. But what was the answer? Ansem was starting to believe they would never find it.

But that would all change one day.

Ansem heard someone from the town calling his name one day. He left his apprentices to their work (even though all Braig was doing was splashing Dilan with chemicals) and went down to see what was going on. He found that a teenage girl named Penelo had come from town, and she was the one shouting his name. She looked panicked and out of breath as if she'd just run a mile.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting sir, but please come with me," she hurriedly requested. "A young stranger has wandered into town claiming stories of shadows taking his world. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this similar to the stories of those other guys that are staying with you?" Ansem's eyes widened. "Another one?" he thought. "How many people is this going to happen to?" He quickly grabbed his red scarf and hurried with Penelo to the town.

When they arrived back in the town, there was a large crowd in the middle of the town square. Ansem tried to see who it was, but could not overtop the massive congestion of the crowd. "Where is he? I don't see him," he asked Penelo as she pulled him towards the center. They pushed through the chaos of hundreds of questions popping up all throughout the crowd. Ansem heard plenty of "What does it mean?" and "Who is this boy? Another one?"

Finally Penelo plowed through to the center, tugging Ansem right behind her. The crowd of people backed up to give Ansem some space. Ansem took a minute to focus after all of the confusion as the crowd quieted down. When his eyes came back into check, he saw not a man, but a young teenage boy not older than sixteen years of age. His eyes shifted left and right, wondering if he was missing something. All of the others that appeared were adults. "How could this boy have survived such a catastrophe?" Ansem thought to himself.

Ansem cleared his throat. "Are you the one I hear has been making claims of shadows destroying your world?"

"Indeed, I am. My name is Ienzo, and I heard I might be able to help you."

"Help me? But you're still only a child, what could you possibly do?"

"I'm not a child, with all due respect, but putting all that aside I heard you were taking in apprentices in order to try and figure out what these things are."

"Well, yes I am, but surely you don't think you can offer anything to the table. We've already got six men up in that castle, including myself, and we've gotten next to nothing after months of work."

"Next to nothing?"

"Well, Xehanort, my first apprentice, did manage to conjure a shadow similar to those who invaded the worlds."

"So…nothing really."

"We got something. You are simply too naïve to realize the scientific breakthrough that we've accomplished."

"-He accomplished." Ienzo corrected. Ansem started breathing heavier.

"Now look boy, I don't know where you came from, or how you could have possibly survived an ordeal similar to that of the five men I have working hard in my castle," he cringed as an image of Elaeus breaking every test tube he picked up entered his mind, "but surely you don't possibly believe that you could offer any viable help to us."

"Sir, with all due respect, it sounds like only one person has managed to accomplish anything, and that one person wasn't even you."

"Well, Even made some progress as well, even though it was about as viable as turning off a light switch. But it makes sense he's one of the only two to accomplish anything. He's the most intelligent one there, with the exception of myself of course." Ienzo rolled his eyes as Ansem continued. "And I'm quite certain you couldn't compare to the standards of any of us." Ienzo was getting impatient with Ansem constantly undermining him.

"Perhaps you need a new approach."

"Our approach is just fine."

"Maybe you're just trying the wrong thing."

"Maybe you're too young to understand."

"I'm not just some naïve little brat like you think I may be! And if I'm too young to understand, then what should that make you? You're five times my age and haven't gotten anywhere!" The two stood in silence. Ansem looked around to see everyone with wide eyes. No one had ever talked to Ansem with an audacity such as that before. He felt a smack on the back of his head and looked behind him to see Aerith. She had a scowl on her face and her arms crossed.

"Let him try and help you for goodness sakes," she whispered sternly. Ansem sighed deeply and looked back at Ienzo.

"Give me just one good reason, one reason is all I ask, as to why I should take your words in my experiments."

"Fair enough. I'll tell you. In my world, before it was destroyed, we had vast knowledge of technology-"

"So you think you can help because you know the difference between a test tube and a Bunsen-"

"-Let me finish." Ienzo gave a cold stare to Ansem. "You claim me the child, but whenever I try and speak, you shut your ears and do the 'I can't hear you' dance." Aerith smacked the back of his head again. Ansem turned to find her scowling again.

"Go ahead Ienzo," Aerith commented politely after shooting another angry look at Ansem. Ansem sighed deeply.

"I apologize Ienzo. Please continue." Aerith nodded her head and smiled.

"Thank you, now as I was saying," Ienzo continued, "my world had a vast knowledge of technology, and I'm not saying I can help you because I aced my Biology class," he said glaring. "But I do know this. My world knew that we were not the only planet in the galaxy." This caught Ansem's attention. "We knew of many worlds outside of our own. And we knew beforehand of the shadows that destroyed our world. Many of the planets near us fell victim to those creatures before they'd reached us."

"How many planets were there? And many are still in tact?"

"I am sure we didn't know all of them, but of the ones we knew, they kept getting closer to us until we, too, were invaded."

"So what exactly are you saying?"

"Well, if this pattern were to continue, then its not long before they reach this place. Your world is one of only three within the closest proximity to my world. If time is what you were looking for, you're nearly out of it."

A panic began to surge throughout the crowd at these words.


End file.
